‘A huge homecoming’ for S.F. ‘Hedwig’ stars

Updated 10:54 am, Thursday, August 25, 2016

Darren Criss, who will play the title role in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, poses for a portrait.

Darren Criss, who will play the title role in Hedwig and the Angry...

On the road to stage and screen stardom, San Franciscans Darren Criss and Lena Hall studied, auditioned, danced, sang and trod the boards from the Eureka Theatre to Feinstein’s at the Nikko. In October, they’ll finally debut at the Golden Gate Theatre, reviving their marquee Broadway roles in the gender-fluid, tragicomic, in-your-face rock musical “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” and launching its first national tour.

“For me and Lena, it’s a huge homecoming,” said Criss, 29, by phone from a drive into the city. “It would have driven me mad if someone else had done Hedwig” in San Francisco.

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He relishes the title role in John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask’s crossover cult musical, the story of a young gay man in 1980s East Germany who undergoes a sex change in order to marry an African American GI and escape to the West. The botched procedure leaves Hedwig with the titular inch — and a lot of anger. “San Francisco theatergoers have a real soft spot for the show, the celebratory nature of the show, the grit and the rock ’n’ roll,” he says. “It’s a very San Francisco show.”

“I was raised backstage,” he says, “hanging out with thirtysomething theater hopefuls. They were taking me out for hamburgers after the show. That was so exciting for a kid. And the Young Conservatory is the very foundation of everything I’ve ever built.”

“He was a bright light from the get-go,” says Craig Slaight, Criss’ acting mentor at ACT. He also took advantage of his protege’s singing talent: “At one of the galas, I had him in a tuxedo as a strolling musician amongst the diners. I don’t know whether that gave him the edge he has now,” he muses wryly.

As a teen student at ACT's Young Conservatory, Darren Criss (second from left) sang in the musical revue "Shed a Little Light: The Music of James Taylor."

As a teen student at ACT's Young Conservatory, Darren Criss (second from left) sang in the musical revue "Shed a Little Light: The Music of James Taylor."

Photo: Tom Haygood

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Darren Criss, who will play the title role in Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

Darren Criss, who will play the title role in Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

Photo: Michael Noble Jr., The Chronicle

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San Francisco's Darren Criss in a promotional photo for "Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

San Francisco's Darren Criss in a promotional photo for "Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

Photo: Andreas Laslo Konrath

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In this undated family photo, Lena Hall and her father, former San Francisco Ballet ballet master Carlos Carvajal, take a break in the dance studio.

In this undated family photo, Lena Hall and her father, former San Francisco Ballet ballet master Carlos Carvajal, take a break in the dance studio.

Photo: Courtesy Of Carlos Carvajal

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As a 14-year-old ballerina, Lena Hall danced in the Waltz of the Flowers in Peninsula Ballet's "Nutcracker," choreographed by her father, Carlos Carvajal.

As a 14-year-old ballerina, Lena Hall danced in the Waltz of the Flowers in Peninsula Ballet's "Nutcracker," choreographed by her father, Carlos Carvajal.

Photo: Carlos Carvajal

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Lena Hall won the 2014 Tony Award for featured actress in a musical for her portrayal of Yitzhak in "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," opposite Neil Patrick Harris in the lead role.

Lena Hall won the 2014 Tony Award for featured actress in a musical for her portrayal of Yitzhak in "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," opposite Neil Patrick Harris in the lead role.

Photo: Joan Marcus

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‘A huge homecoming’ for S.F. ‘Hedwig’ stars

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Even then, Criss had an edgy curiosity. He was 14 when the “Hedwig” movie came out, and “my brother and I would watch it in the basement. Every time we put it on, I felt like a delinquent,” he says. “Like, if my mom came in, how the hell would I possibly explain what I’m watching? I never dreamed in a million years it would be something I would do later on.”

As fate would have it, Criss became one of a succession of high-profile Hedwigs, taking up the role after Tony winner Neil Patrick Harris, Andrew Rannells, Michael C. Hall and John Cameron Mitchell, who created the show as an off-Broadway experiment in 1998. He joined the show just as Lena Hall was leaving the supporting role of Yitzhak, for which she won the 2014 Tony Award for featured actress in a musical.

“It’s a great way to cap off this long journey that I’ve been on in the musical theater world,” said Hall, 36, of their shared return. “This is where it all began.”

Photo: Melisa Hall

Lena Hall, with chickens, in one of the marvelously decorated rooms at Villa Satori, her family's Upper Haight home.

Lena Hall, with chickens, in one of the marvelously decorated rooms...

“It’s such a juicy story, and the music is amazing,” she said by phone from a vacation in Miami. In an intriguing twist, Hall will also debut in the title role, wearing the wig and glitter for one show each week. A veteran rock and cabaret singer who has both fronted her own band and toured with Josh Groban, she can’t wait to sing with the original Broadway band, who will play backup on tour: “‘Hedwig’ showed me that theater could be edgy, musical theater can be rock ’n’ roll, theater can move you in a way that you had no idea.”

It’s hard to know who is more excited about Hall and Criss bringing “Hedwig” home, the actors or their friends and families. Their parents, who saw the show over and over in New York, will be fixtures in the orchestra section; their former teachers plan to attend with groups of theater students (the show is recommended for ages 13 and up).

For everyone, it will be a uniquely San Francisco experience. “As a child, I used to go to the Fox Theatre with my dad,” remembers Carlos Carvajal, who grew up in the Fillmore. “To see Celina coming back as the star of a show at the Golden Gate, it’s such a thrill.”